Monthly Archive: October 2011

Gato is quite grumpy. The reason behind this is up for interpretation. It may be because he prefers beef but usually receives chicken. Or potentially because he continues to be paired with English speaking gringas who want to pet his head more than he likes. Or even better yet, perhaps it’s because he’s 17-years-old and …

La Paz, Bolivia is a strange place. It sits extremely high in the mountains (to the tune of 11,000+ ft above sea level), is home to the world’s most dangerous prison, and draws an extremely rambunctious international party crowd who, most days, don’t leave hostel grounds. Even knowing all of these things, I was under …

While at first I was leaning towards the title “Lake Tourist-Trap,” a few additional days around Lake Titicaca, including three of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen, have left an overall positive impression. My Lake Titicaca experience started in Puno, the launching point for a two-day, one-night trip to three of the lake’s …

This morning I took a bus from Puno, Peru to Copacabana, Bolivia. During the 3-hour trip, I reflected on all things interesting, strange, and noteworthy from my first month in South America. Here I present a collection of random thoughts (and no, none of them have anything to do with llamas): There are dogs everywhere. …

Last night I stood on a balcony overlooking the tarmac at the Arequipa airport and watched as Adam and our new dog Sincola (Cinco) boarded a plane for SFO, via Lima. I was crying uncontrollably for a few reasons. One being that I was very proud to have successfully weeded through all of the paperwork …

Since mid-July, I have been looking forward to the 4-day, 42km trek around the Inca Empire’s stomping grounds. Due to government restrictions, only 500 people are allowed to hike the “Classic Inca Trail” each day, and as a result tickets are sold out at least 2 months in advance. To be honest, I booked the …